By Raushan Melton
Arts Editor
“Heartworms” is a dreamy, summertime album imbedded with fun-loving lyrics, but fails to make itself memorable.
“Heartworms” by indie rock band The Shins leaves listeners content with familiar vocals and lighthearted, poetic lyrics, catchy rhythms and breezy tone, but isn’t something outstanding.
Prior to “Heartworms”, the last album the band released was “Port of Morrow” in 2012. Based in Portland, Oregon, The band consists of vocalist, songwriter and guitarist James Mercer, drummer Jon Sortland, guitarists Mark Watrous and Casey Foubert, bassist Yuuki Matthews, and keyboard player Patti King.
The Shins formed in 1996 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and found their fame through 2004 indie-film “Garden State”, in which their most notable song “New Slang” was dubbed as life-changing. Since that album “Oh, Inverted World”, the group has released 5 albums not including “Heartworms”.
The album begins with an upbeat and bright melody, “Name for You”, which blares Mercer’s soothing and recognizable vocals of Mercer. Though the song is catchy with an electronic sound, it sets the precedent that the album isn’t anything worth raving over as its consistency ultimately becomes monotonous.
“Painting A Hole” follows next, continuing with a relaxed sound and synth-heavy track in the background. Like the song before, it seems made to be background music to a cliche romantic indie movie stand alone song that can satisfy listeners completely.
The track “Cherry Hearts” offers parallels indie-rock band MGMT with its rhythmic noises and cool pace, creating a dream-like atmosphere within the album. Lyrics within this song also seem to be a bit more emotional even with its pop like harmonizing of the lyrics, “I’ve never done time, but I’ve done the crime of wanting something that couldn’t stay” with a unique reverberation.
A few tracks later, “Mildenhall” shows variation within the band with a western cowbell sound and folk-like vocals. This is refreshing within the album, due to the first few songs blending into each other. Though unique, “Mildenhall” still doesn’t save the album as a whole with its stylish jingle.
Read Spin.com’s review of “Heartworms” here.
“Rubber Ballz” coos listeners with a rolling beat and easy to tap to beat, but seems to fail in defining itself as original. Sounding a bit like “New Slang” at some points, the band seems to try too hard to reference that original sound with a flare. The song itself isn’t unpleasant, as vocals are gentle and creative, but it just doesn’t reel listeners in all the way.
“Half a Million” channels yet another symbol of complexity for The Shins, straying towards a more alternative feel. Much like the rest of this album, with a typical chopstick piano sound and vocals that follow an unoriginal fluctuation, “Half A Million” doesn’t conclude itself as bad, just forgettable.
“Dead Alive” and “Heartworms” also deviate away from the typical sound of The Shins with a psychedelic twist but Mercer’s vocals are still comforting. The subdued tone within these two songs emphasizes that breezy, summertime feeling conveyed earlier in the album.
Click here to read Rolling Stone’s review on the new album by The Shins.
“So Now What” and “The Fear” complete the album with a steady pacing and relaxed, sedated melody. These two songs transmit a different pop feeling, but nonetheless seem to be more slow rolling and traditional of The Shins.
“Heartworms” doesn’t displease or shock listeners with its gentle and soothing rhythms and unique variations, but just can’t seem to make a remarkable stride within The Shins’ discography.
“Heartworms” can be purchased on ITunes for $12.99 or streamed on Spotify or Apple Music.
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